Twenty-six UNL students ventured to California during the school’s winter break to learn more about the nation’s immigration debate and migrant workers while volunteering in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
“This year we had a little bit of a longer break from Jan. 1 until classes started,” said Linda Moody, who led the trip as the director of service learning in the Center for Civic Engagement. “Nebraska has a large population of migrant families and a lot of our students are interested in immigrants and citizenship and how it relates to the migrant families.”
Students spent 10 days, from Jan. 1-10, during the Alternative Service Break. They traveled by charter bus with stops at Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon and the San Joaquin River, where they helped remove invasive species to open the river to the public, said December accounting graduate and traveler Megan Sisson.
The service trips are designed to connect students to service projects that provide real-world experience in their field of study or interest. While some students were involved with majors related to environmental studies, many in the group were pursuing unrelated degrees and used the trip as an opportunity to help others.
The trip included a stop at a Habitat for Humanity Restore site for a day, where students helped organize the supply warehouse and went to several sites to see homes that were built by past volunteers and the lots they still have available, Sisson said.
Students also worked with a non-profit solar installer, GRID Alternatives, to install solar panels on the roofs of low-value homes in the San Joaquin Valley. GRID Alternatives leads teams of volunteers and job trainees to install solar electric systems exclusively for low-income homeowners, providing savings for families struggling to make ends meet, preparing workers for jobs in the fast-growing solar industry and reducing carbon emissions.
“We spent two days installing panels, bending conduits and wiring,” Sisson said. “It was very hands-on and they let us do as much as we possibly could.”
To learn more about the Hispanic community and the migrant workers that California employs, students spent time at Arte Americas: Casa de la Cultura, a Latino art gallery featuring art by Hispanic immigrants.
In addition to their community service, students learned about workers’ rights by meeting with representatives from the United Farm Workers Foundation and the College Assistant Migrant Program at California State University, Fresno.
While the main focus of the trip was service and learning, Moody said students also learned how to come together as a community. They get to see their privileges firsthand, she said, and learn about tough issues like immigration and citizenship.
“It allows students to take a look at themselves and their community and state and have conversations about how they can make change happen,” Moody said.
ASB trips are available during fall break, winter break and spring break each year and are open to all students.
“It’s a great opportunity to travel somewhere with a group and do good for the community while getting to meet new people that you never would have met on campus,” Sisson said.
